Free Republic

Free speech is often the first casualty of political polarization. There are two competing American tribes that have an immense amount in common. They both loathe mass shootings and grieve for lives lost. They both propose plans to protect innocent life. They both seek to keep guns out of the hands of dangerous individuals. Yes, they have profound differences, but their motivations and intentions are remarkably similar. Moreover, America is designed from the ground up so that citizens of good will can hash out their competing ideas through political and cultural argument. if ( "undefined" !== typeof googletag && !...

Pins reminded me that last year’s 9/11 post was the last time we heard from notmysocks who sadly passed the next day. So for this week’s Throwback Thursday, and in keeping with this week’s spirit of “never forget” I’m reposting the MOTUS Twilight Nocturn Lounge sendoff we held in Sock’s honor nearly a year ago. We miss you, dear friend, along with Bunni, GreetingsFromYonkers, and JanicetheElder – as well as many others who are MIA. The Lounge is now open We’re gathered here this evening  to  provide our old friend, notmysocks, a proper MOTI sendoff to her just reward. So...

Legal challenges to a no-deal Brexit centre on political matters which must be kept outside judicial examination, the High Court in Belfast has ruled. A senior judge has rejected all grounds of challenge to British Prime Minister Boris Johnson's strategy for taking the UK out of the EU, including claims that it would threaten the Northern Ireland peace process. Lord Justice Bernard McCloskey delivered his ruling on Thursday morning. Dismissing cases brought by victims campaigner Raymond McCord and two other applicants, Lord Justice McCloskey held that they were non justiciable. According to his determination the actions indisputably focused on political...

It's been 18 years since 9/11. Children born on that tragic day are old enough to serve and fight in America's longest war. In New York City, there are 13 members of next graduating class from the Fire Academy who lost their fathers in the destruction of the World Trade Center, according to the New York Post. For many Americans there is an absence of memory about 9/11 -- but for others it persists because of the memory of absence.

President Trump’s reelection campaign will be flying a banner attacking socialism in Houston on Thursday, shortly before Democratic presidential candidates take the debate stage there. An official with the campaign told ABC News that the group plans to fly a banner that reads, "Socialism will kill Houston's economy,” from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. The third Democratic presidential debate is scheduled to begin an hour later. The campaign also plans to take out two full-page advertisements in local newspapers taking aim at Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), former Vice President Joe Biden and former Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Julián...

Today’s Cryptogram EA Q PEXM DK JUQCPEO OTQAIM EP EC PTM NMQUAMUC GTD EATMUEP PTM KLPLUM. PTM NMQUAMJ LCLQNNV KEAJ PTMXCMNBMC MYLEFFMJ PD NEBM EA Q GDUNJ PTQP AD NDAIMU MHECPC. –MUEO TDKKMU You can find this little fun word game, to combat early dementia and senility in us baby boomers, in several daily publications. The way it works is a letter stands for another letter. For example: AXYDLBAAXR is LONGFELLOW (does not apply to today's cryptogram). Beware, the game is very addictive. If this is your first time, don't be intimidated. PLEASE DO NOT post the answer in general...

President Donald Trump has left the impression with foreign officials, members of his administration, and others involved in Iranian negotiations that he is actively considering a French plan to extend a $15 billion credit line to the Iranians if Tehran comes back into compliance with the Obama-era nuclear deal. Trump has in recent weeks shown openness to entertaining President Emmanuel Macron’s plan, according to four sources with knowledge of Trump’s conversations with the French leader. Two of those sources said that State Department officials, including Secretary Mike Pompeo, are also open to weighing the French proposal, in which the Paris...

Nicolette Larson (July 17, 1952 – December 16, 1997) was perhaps best known for her work in the late 1970s with Neil Young and her 1978 hit single of Young's "Lotta Love", which hit No. 1 on the Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks chart and No. 8 on the pop singles chart. By 1985, she shifted her focus to country music, charting six times on the US country singles chart. She died in 1997 of cerebral edema and liver failure. "Lotta Love" is a song written and recorded by Neil Young and released on his 1978 Comes a Time album....

Today we have Love Thief by Hank Thompson (1951). I'm afraid I'd have to give Thompson the prize for wearing the dorkiest hats, but he sure made good music. THE WESTERNER https://thewesterner.blogspot.com/

Hats off to Gov. Tony Evers for calling out Wisconsin legislative Republicans' position on guns for what it is — BS. Evers made his blunt assessment after GOP leaders Robin Vos and Scott Fitzgerald, dutifully followed by their submissive colleagues in the Assembly and Senate, announced they had no intention of even considering Evers' proposals to address what has become a national crisis. In the wake of the El Paso and Dayton mass shootings and calls from the public that government officials do something, Evers proposed that Wisconsin enact a universal background check procedure and pass a red-flag law that...

'Think artillery' when it comes to the 4-bore double rifles of Austrian gunmaker Peter Hofer. - The long, illustrious history of the 4-gauge rifle goes back to the days of the muzzleloaders first employed against the pachyderms of India and Africa. These guns reached perfection with the advent of the breech-loading cartridge guns. The standard load was 14 drams of black powder behind a 1,882-grain slug, which would give an approximate velocity of 1,200 to 1,400 feet per second. The immense unbridled power of a shoulder gun firing the maximum load for a ship's swivel cannon generated 300 pounds of...

If Republicans support a federal “red flag” law and universal background checks they will have done more than President Obama to undermine Second Amendment rights, contends NRA spokeswoman Dana Loesch. “Is that what they want their legacy to be?” she asked in an interview Tuesday night with Tucker Carlson on the Fox News Channel. The red flag laws, which already have been adopted in 17 states and the District of Columbia, allow police to seize guns from people who haven’t even been charged with a crime if they are deemed a danger to society.

Weymouth High School parents began raising money this year for their kid’s sports teams by selling “white out” shirts that kids can wear to athletic events to encourage school unity. Anyone remotely familiar with sportball understands what a “white out” is. It’s not just white either, they do it for lots of colors. Usually it’s the school colors, although Weymouth’s colors of maroon and gold could be offensive to Elizabeth Warren. More often than not it’s just black or white because it’s a color that stands out. That’s when this woman stepped in. This is Weymouth Superintendent Dr. Jennifer Curtis-Whipple....

Morning "God is jealous." Nahum 1:2 Your Lord is very jealous of your love, O believer. Did he choose you? He cannot bear that you should choose another. Did he buy you with his own blood? He cannot endure that you should think that you are your own, or that you belong to this world. He loved you with such a love that he would not stop in heaven without you; he would sooner die than you should perish, and he cannot endure that anything should stand between your heart's love and himself. He is very jealous of your trust....

Vanity - my wife had a major stroke on Friday en route to her job as a junior high science teacher. Fortunately, even at a high rate of speed on a twisty 2 lane road, she missed everyone, and his a intersection light pole, injuring no other person, or causing no one else and damage. Her spirit, or soul, departed the instant of the stroke, we were assured by the doctors (as well as the lack of high speed crash injuries in a conscious person). The doctors, or more importantly, the nurses at Memorial Hermann Medical Center 7th floor Neuroscience...

I hate science, evidently, because I’m woke to the manifest truth about what the leftist elite currently calls “climate change." It is the second most staggering fraud ever perpetrated upon the American people after the media’s promotion of the unstoppable candidacy of Beto (who is a furry). Like some suckers still do, I once believed that “science” was a rigorous process where you tested theories and revised those theories in response to objective evidence. But in today’s shabby practice, “science” is just a package of self-serving lies buttressing the transnational liberal elite’s preferred narrative. Our alleged betters hope that labeling...

Speaking to CNN’s Anderson Cooper on Wednesday, Santorum said that while Trump is celebrating this week’s Republican victories in North Carolina, there was a more ominous long-term trend appearing in the polls. Trump has low favorability ratings and is trailing most of his potential 2020 Democratic rivals, meaning he has quite a hill to climb if he hopes to win reelection next year. “The president’s numbers are not good numbers,” Santorum said. “The races in 2018 were not good races for the president and he’s gotta be concerned.” Santorum added that in the end, Trump’s own mouth could be what...

Today’s Campaign Update (Because The Campaign Never Ends) Tired of all this WINNING yet? – In case you missed it, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed back above 27,000 on Wednesday, and is just a little more than 200 points off of its all-time highest close. Recession? What recession? Tired of all this WINNING yet? Part II. – In advance of the resumption of U.S./China trade talks in early October, the Chinese government announced it would rescind existing tariffs on a raft of U.S. imports, including lubricants, anti-cancer drugs and some farm goods. In return, President Donald Trump announced a...

State lawmakers took aim at liberal local government overreach this past session, and they passed a slew of legislation hoping to rein in some of the worst of it. Among the new laws is one ending forced annexation. For decades, city governments forcibly annexed property on their outskirts in a bid to grow their tax base—whether the property owners agreed or not. This anti-democratic practice was curtailed somewhat in 2017, but it wasn’t until this past legislative session that lawmakers fully ended it. Under the new rules, all home-rule cities must now hold an election—and win it—before grabbing any new...

IZHEVSK, Russia -- A 79-year-old man who lit himself on fire protesting against Russia's language policies in the capital of the Volga region of Udmurtia has died. Media reports quoted medical personnel of a hospital in the city of Izhevsk as saying that the man was pronounced dead hours after hospitalization on September 10. The man, named Albert Razin, was holding two signs reading "If my language dies tomorrow, then I'm ready to die today" and "Do I have a Fatherland?" He was said to be in critical condition, with burns to nearly 100 percent of his body. The Investigative...